We Never Retreat

Filibustering Expeditions into Spanish Texas, 1812-1822

By Ed Bradley

The term “filibuster” often brings to mind a senator giving a long-winded speech in opposition to a bill, but the term had a different connotation in the nineteenth century—invasion of foreign lands by private military forces.

Spanish Texas was a target of such invasions. Generally given short shrift in the studies of American-based filibustering, these expeditions were led by colorful men such as Augustus William Magee, Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara, John Robinson, and James Long. Previous accounts of their activities are brief, lack the appropriate context to fully understand filibustering, and leave gaps in the historiography.

Ed Bradley now offers a thorough recounting of filibustering into Spanish Texas framed through the lens of personal and political motives: why American men participated in them and to what extent the US government was either involved in or tolerated them.

“We Never Retreat” makes a major contribution by placing these expeditions within the contexts of the Mexican War of Independence and international relations between the United States and Spain.

ED BRADLEY is an assistant editor with the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

What Readers Are Saying:

“The manuscript is written in a narrative style that resembles that of fine historians who have labored on the same chronological period . . . the author has mined excellent primary sources. He clearly has a command of the relevant literature both from the period and what historians have contributed to our understanding since. The author has provided a welcome look into a neglected aspect of Texas and American history, providing argument and conclusions that are engaging and thought-provoking.” — Dan Monroe, PhD, Department of History, Millikin University

“. . . provides a glimpse into the driving forces of early nineteenth-century US expansion. . . a significant work that both US and borderlands historians will find valuable. Using an impressive array of documents and employing skillful analysis throughout, Bradley successfully rescues these expeditions from obscurity and explores their place amidst the turbulent geopolitical changes of early nineteenth-century North America.”—H-Net